Lady Panthers move past .500 mark with pair of wins

The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ softball team has pushed its record over the .500 mark after winning two of three a week ago.
Their big win came in a South Central Association (SCA) Conference match-up with Houston as they went on the road and scored 10 runs in their final three at-bats for a 12-7 victory.
Chloe Slagle hit a big two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to help seal the win. Mountain Grove did score seven runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Payton O’Connor led her team with three hits, three RBIs and one run scored; Gabby Miller had three RBIs and one run scored; Slagle tallied two RBIs and scored three times; Makenzi Schober had two RBIs and scored one run; while Stella Benson and Lyla Golden both scored twice.
On the mound, Hannah Dowden tossed seven innings and gave up one earned run on four hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
Two days earlier, the Lady Panthers traveled to Van Buren and left with a 13-2 win.
In this contest, Slagle launched a three-run home run to help put the game away as her team did scored seven runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Slagle finished with four RBIs and scored two runs; Benson and Miller both had one RBI and scored three times; Aubrey Owens had one RBI and one run scored; and Lyla Golden scored twice.
Dowden tossed three shutout innings and gave up no hits with five strikeouts. O’Connor tossed two innings and gave up one earned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks.
In the SCA match-up at home against Thayer on Monday, the Lady Bobcats were too much in a 5-1 loss for the Lady Panthers. Landry Golden had one RBI and Benson scored the lone run.
Dowden tossed seven innings and gave up four earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.